


An Accidental Dragon

by prissygirl



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Dark Castle, Dragons, F/M, Fluff, Rumbelle - Freeform, Rumbelle Secret Santa 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-08 00:11:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5475752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prissygirl/pseuds/prissygirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Queens of Darkness kidnap Belle, Rumplestiltskin searches for a way to keep his maid safe. Unfortunately, things don’t turn out quite the way he planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Accidental Dragon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sobriquett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sobriquett/gifts).



> Rumbelle Secret Santa gift for sobriquett, based on her prompt - "Dark castle: magic, misunderstandings, dragons". Special thanks to B_does_the_write_thing for editing!

There are consequences to using magic. Any sorcerer worth their salt knows it.

Rumplestiltskin definitely knew it as he stared up at his latest consequence, which subsequently let out a huge burp of fire.

As the dragon turned in a circle before settling down to lie on the floor of his Great Hall, Rumplestiltskin grimaced.

Belle wasn’t going to find _this_ misunderstanding very amusing.

 

_One Hour Earlier_

Rumplestiltskin moved frantically around his lab, sending bits of parchment flying in his wake as he grabbed book after book from the shelves and threw them onto his worktable.

The reason for his frantic mood stood across the room. Belle watched him worriedly, her teeth chewing at her bottom lip. He’d been ignoring her since he’d transported them back to the Dark Castle from the cliffside caves where Maleficent, Ursula, and Cruella had held her captive. She’d been quiet so far, probably still unsettled from her near death experience, but he could see her mind turning. It was only a matter of time before her bravery and curiosity would win out over her fear.

He _really_ needed to teach her some better self-preservation skills, Rumplestiltskin realized. Then again, if he succeeded now, he supposed that wouldn’t really matter.

Rumplestiltskin flipped open one of his books and skimmed the page. As upset as he was, he was having trouble concentrating, but he was fairly certain it was the right text.

“Rumple, please calm down. I’m alright – “

“No, Belle, I cannot let this stand. I _will_ not let this stand! Peoplehave to know that you can’t just _take_ something away from the Dark One.”

If he had not been so busy trying to read the text before him, he might have noticed her crestfallen expression. “But I’m _fine_. We can figure out a way to get the gauntlet back tomorrow.”

“Oh, this isn’t about the gauntlet.” He let out a strained giggle. “I’ll deal with that in time – those three hags will probably destroy each other before I even show up. No, this is about making sure no one dares to touch you again.”

“So… you _do_ care.”

Rumplestiltskin looked up to find Belle standing across the table from him. Her eyes were searching his face in that disconcerting way she had. It always felt like she was trying to strip away the layers he had wrapped himself in so long ago.

“Perhaps I should throw a memory strengthening potion in as well,” he snapped. “Because I clearly remember telling you less than ten minutes ago that I _don’t_ care about you.”

“Then why – “

“Because nobody takes what’s mine! Now if you don’t mind, _dearie_ , I’m trying to work here.”

He saw a muscle in Belle’s jaw twitch and he knew she was trying to decide if it was worth pushing him on the point. With an exasperated sigh, she turned on her heels and marched out the door. It slammed hard behind her and he could hear her grumbling as she marched down the hall.

He ignored her mutterings; he could make it up to her later. But first, he had to make sure she was safe.

Usually Rumplestiltskin took his time with his research – he was playing a long game after all and had been doing so rather successfully for several centuries now – but he didn’t have that luxury at the moment. Belle had to be protected. Not only were the three witches aware of his _slight_ attachment to her, but through his own foolishness, Regina now knew as well.

He had to find a way to keep her protected from any spells or dark magic. Thankfully, he seemed to have stumbled upon an obscure potion that might just do that. After a quick translation, he had realized the brew would give the individual who drank it the magical equivalent of “thick skin.”

It was exactly the sort of thing Rumplestiltskin had been looking for and he had hurriedly begun putting the ingredients together. He thought the translation for the potion seemed a bit off, but he pushed that thought aside. Ancient Dwarvish was hardly his first language, after all. He was sure he knew what he was doing.

Rumplestiltskin nodded confidently as he poured the potion into a small vial. With the potion clutched carefully in one hand and the spell book in the other, he went off in search of his troublesome maid.

He found Belle in the Great Hall, unsurprisingly reading a book on the chaise she often sat at while he spun. Her face was set in a frown and he realized she was still angry from his outburst earlier. He stopped in front of her, waiting for her to look up at him.

“Are you going to apologize?” she asked, without raising her eyes from her book.

“For one to apologize, one would have to be in the wrong.” He set his book down on the table. “As I am never wrong,” he said with a slight trill, “there seems to be little point.”

“I’m a person, Rumple, not an object.” Belle closed her book firmly and looked up. “I did promise to stay with you forever, but you don’t own me, and I _don’t_ appreciate you speaking that way to me.”

Her voice held that disappointed tone that he hated so much. He unconsciously rubbed the fingers of his free hand together agitatedly.

“Fine. Whatever. You’re your own person. Drink the potion.”

He held the vial out to her. Instead of taking it, she crossed her arms. “Not until you apologize properly.”

“I just saved you from an overgrown octopus who was about to crush your windpipe. I’ve done my good deed for the day. Now, take this before I turn you into a toad.”

She sniffed at the potion. “What does it do?”

“It will prevent today’s incident from happening again. It should keep you safe, even if I’m not around.”

Her eyes flickered up to meet his and he saw the hardness in them soften. He squirmed under her gaze. She gave him a small smile and took the potion from him.

“Apology accepted.”

“I didn’t – oh just drink it,” he said waspishly. “We can argue your misunderstanding of the English language afterwards.”

With a slight smirk, Belle brought the vial to her lips and drank the potion down in one gulp. Her eyes went a bit wide and she grimaced at the taste. “What’s in this?”

“Slugs.”

She began coughing and he cackled. “Just a quip, of course.”

His maid usually found his jokes humorous, but her glare showed her to be less than amused this time. She opened her mouth to speak and instead let out a small burp. Belle covered her mouth quickly, her cheeks tinging with embarrassment.

Rumplestiltskin laughed. “I may be a monster, but I do expect some manners in my – “

He cut off mid-sentence as small wisps of black smoke issued forth from Belle’s mouth and began to float slowly down her body.

“Rumple? Is this supposed to be happening?” Belle asked, her voice higher in pitch than usual.

Rumplestiltskin stared at the smoke as it began to condense, becoming blacker and inkier as it began to swirl around Belle.

 “I – I don’t know,” he stuttered. He flipped open his book to the spell. “I’ve never done this before.”

“ _What?!_ ”

The tendrils of magic continued to strengthen as they whipped around Belle. Rumplestiltskin flipped through his spell book frantically, his eyes scanning the pages for anything that reversed the process.

The air in the room was tense and he knew that it might do Belle more harm than good if he tried to intervene without knowing what he was dealing with for sure.

Belle gulped. “You know, when I said I wanted an adventure, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,” she joked, her voice wavering slightly.

She was trying to be brave and despite the growing terror in his gut, Rumplestiltskin had never been prouder of her.

“I will figure this out, Belle. I promise.”

She nodded. “I know. Otherwise, this castle will have to go back to cleaning itself, I suppose.”

Her nervous little laugh was cut off as the magic finally converged upon her. It spread across her skin until it had completely covered her soft pale flesh. Belle cried out as the magic twisted her body, causing it to grow and elongate as her skin hardened into shiny obsidian-colored scales.

Rumplestiltskin watched in silent fascination and horror. When the magic finally cleared, he saw before him the consequences of his recklessness.

A ten-foot dragon stood panting in the spot where his maid had been only moments before, tiny shreds of blue and white fabric clinging to her gleaming scales.

 

Rumplestiltskin spent the next several minutes just staring at the sight before him.

Though she seemed benign enough as she sat curled up in front of the fire, he had no idea of knowing if the creature before him had any awareness of who she really was. Belle’s mind might still be her own, but it could just as easily have reverted to that of an animal.

The dragon laid with its head turned away from him and the less brave part of him was loath to attract its attention.

But if he was going to help her, he needed to know if she was still in there.

“Belle?” he asked tentatively.

The beast’s head turned towards him and he met her eyes. They weren’t the bright blue he had come to know, but they were unmistakably hers.

No mere animal could manage to look at him with equal amounts of annoyance and disappointment.  

“Oh, Belle,” he said with a sigh.

He was going to have to build a bigger library if he wanted her to forgive him after this was over, Rumplestiltskin realized miserably.

Though she was undeniably still Belle inside, she was obviously angry at him and had the ability to breathe fire, so he stepped cautiously towards her.

A slight bit of smoke blew from her nostrils but he made it to her side without getting roasted. He reached out a tentative hand and touched the flat plane of her muzzle.

“I’m so sorry, Belle. I’ll make everything alright, I swear.”

She let out a snort but otherwise let him stroke her face. It seemed to soothe her, so Rumplestiltskin continued the action as he racked his brain for how exactly he was going to get them out of this mess.

The next few hours were spent in a flurry of research. He brought all his books and materials down to the Great Hall, setting up a makeshift workstation on the large dining table. Rumplestiltskin didn’t think it was a good idea to leave Belle alone. Besides, he doubted he could have gotten any real work done had she been out of his sight.

Having botched the first potion so thoroughly, he realized he wasn’t going to find the answer to his problem without more information on dragons. He hadn’t had much use for the creatures over the years, so his knowledge on that front was insufficient for his needs.

It was only when a loud rumble came from across the room that he looked up from the text he had been studying for the last twenty minutes.

The noise had come from Belle. Or more specifically, her stomach.

With a wave of his hand, the carcass of a large boar appeared before her.

She took one look at the animal and turned up her giant nose at it, letting out a huff.

“You have a bigger stomach now,” Rumplestiltskin reminded her gently. “You can’t get by on finger sandwiches anymore.”

She pawed at it skeptically.

“Would you prefer I made you hunt for your own food?”

Belle grumbled in response, but sniffed at the food again. Rumplestiltskin hadn’t thought it possible for a dragon to look squeamish, but Belle did look a little sick around the scales.

Before he could come up with another option, Belle closed her eyes tight and took a giant chomp of the boar.

He waited patiently until she had swallowed. “Verdict?”

Belle’s massive shoulders shrugged, and Rumplestiltskin felt the floor vibrate in response.

“If you’d like it a little crispier, feel free to grill it.” He gestured around the room. “The castle is _mostly_ fire proof.”

Rumplestiltskin saw her glance nervously at a shelf of books along the wall. He couldn’t help it – he let out a bark of laughter. Despite her change in appearance, Belle was as much herself as she had ever been.

It gave him hope and he turned back to his research with renewed determination.

 

As he slowly began to work an antidote together over the next day and half, Rumplestiltskin slowly began to realize that he was going to need help on this one.

He wasn’t the sort who usually asked for help. He made deals, and he always let people know that he could just as well make a deal with the next fool who came along if they weren’t interested.

The only thing that made him go through with it was the thought that Belle was counting on him. He couldn’t help her if he needed to be in two places at once. He needed an ingredient from Oz for the potion, but he couldn’t leave Belle alone in the castle. If something were to happen to him, she would be trapped that way forever.

Which is how he found himself calling upon the services of the one acquaintance he would _almost_ refer to as a friend.

Jefferson arrived swiftly, less than half a day after Rumplestiltskin had sent the messenger bird. The Mad Hatter swanned into the Great Hall and, to Rumplestiltskin’s surprise, didn’t even blink when he found himself in the same room with a dragon.

Jefferson broke into a large grin as he looked up at the creature. “It’s gorgeous, my friend! What’s its name?”

“Belle.”

“You named it after your maid? That’s – oh.” Jefferson’s smile faded and his eyes grew wide. “You’re going to be in such trouble once you turn her back.”

“In case you’ve forgotten, _Belle_ doesn’t run things around here. I’m the master; she’s just the help.”

The dragon let out a low growl. Rumplestiltskin managed not to jump, but couldn’t quite hide a nervous twitch.

Jefferson gave him a skeptical glance. “Clearly.” 

It took a while before he could get Jefferson to discuss his request. The man spent a good twenty minutes admiring Belle’s new form, complimenting her on what a magnificent dragon she made.

Had Rumplestiltskin dared to say such a thing, he knew Belle would have swatted him onto his backside with one swift flick of her giant claw. With Jefferson, however, she seemed to encourage his flattery, even showing off for him by blowing smoke rings. She had spent a good chuck of the day practicing the trick in the courtyard, and as much as he wanted to hurry his talk with Jefferson along, he couldn’t bring himself to deny Belle her bit of fun.

She still hadn’t mastered breathing fire yet, but Rumplestiltskin doubted she was in any rush to try again.  The one time he’d seen her try, she’d accidentally set a large rose bush in the garden on fire and had ended up having to stamp it out quickly with one of her massive claws.

He’d wisely chosen not to comment on it.

After finally dragging Jefferson away from Belle – and telling him in no uncertain terms that he was _not_ allowed to ride his maid, despite her dragon form – Rumplestiltskin was finally able to strike a deal with Jefferson to fetch him some emerald dust for his antidote.

Sending Jefferson on his way was a relief, and the quiet that followed for the next few hours was exactly what he needed to focus on his research.

He had expected Belle to find a way to amuse herself again, as she had earlier in the day outside, but as he looked over at her later that night, he saw that she had curled up again in the corner of the room like she had after she had first transformed. 

Even worse, she seemed to be sulking.

Rumplestiltskin didn’t have any frame of reference for how dragons looked when they sulked, but he knew Belle well enough to know it when he saw it. She had spent her first day that way, and though he had tried to cheer her up in little ways – including bringing her little treats and suggesting that she take a walk outside – he had been mainly trying to concentrate on a way to bring her back. 

But now that he had to wait for the final ingredient, he realized he could probably pull himself away from his work a little more often. There was still a lot to prepare, but it would be several days before Jefferson would return, leaving him plenty of time.

He threw another log in the fire and went to kneel next to Belle. She eyed him sadly and let out a small sigh.

“You’re bored, aren’t you?” he asked, not unkindly. ”Is there any way I can help?”

Belle moved her great dragon head from side to side sadly. He racked his brain to come up with a solution and nearly missed the look of longing that she sent towards the rows of books along the wall.

Sudden inspiration hit him and waved his hand, a book appearing in it a second later.

Rumplestiltskin had barely a moment to react before Belle shifted next to him, almost flattening him in an attempt to get closer. Thankfully, three centuries as the Dark One had made him light on his feet and he managed to scramble out of her way as she settled down next to him, her eyes bright with excitement.

“Don’t get your hopes up too high,” he warned. “I doubt that ‘Her Handsome Hero’ sounds quite as romantic in my old, raspy voice.”

It took a moment for him to realize that the last time he had read aloud to anyone was when his son had been little. He pushed that thought away quickly, opening the book to the first page.

“Once upon a time…”

 

From then on, it became their nightly ritual for him to read to her at night. During the day he would work on the potion or other projects while Belle would roam the gardens, chasing the squirrels and practicing breathing smoke and fire.

There was more than once that he swore he saw something out of the corner of his eye fly by his window in his upstairs lab. But by the time he would arrive in the gardens to check on Belle, he would always find her innocently lying on the ground, seemingly fascinated by blowing the seeds off dozens of dandelions and watching as they floated away in the wind.

By the time Jefferson came back from Oz – looking slightly worse for wear and grumbling about cheeky munchkins – Belle had spent almost a week as a dragon. The moment Jefferson had placed the bag of emerald dust in his hands he had set to work to finish the potion with grim determination.

It should have made Rumplestiltskin happy to know life would be able to return to normal, but he found himself almost reluctant for it to do so.

It wasn’t that he wished Belle to remain trapped as a dragon for any longer. She had handled the situation admirably, and he was determined to make it up to her in any number of ways. But if he was truly honest with himself, he would miss their nightly readings by the fire. Once she returned to her proper self, he knew she’d no longer have any use for him to read to her. They would go back to spending their nights in silence as he spun and Belle read quietly across the room.

The thought shouldn’t have made him sad, yet he couldn’t help but realize that he would miss their time together all the same.

Another idea had occurred to him during the time Jefferson had been away, and he had made a second potion for Belle as well. Though he knew she had managed to find fleeting moments of happiness despite her transformation, he knew the situation itself had to have been horribly traumatizing for her. He would do anything to make the experience easier for her, even if that meant helping her to remove such difficult memories.

Once both potions were ready, he transported himself to the Great Hall with the antidote, leaving the memory potion to cool upon his worktable in the lab.

Thanks to all his additional research and planning, Rumplestiltskin had textual proof that Belle’s transformation would go much smoother the second time around. Yet somehow that information didn’t soothe the nerves in his stomach as he walked towards her with the potion clutched tightly in his hand.

He didn’t think his overly bright smile fooled Belle, but once again she impressed him with her bravery by calmly opening her mouth to receive the antidote.

Rumplestiltskin poured the potion carefully down Belle’s open jaw, and watched as it began to take effect almost immediately. She shrank back to her original size quickly, her skin smoothing and returning to its natural color. Within less than three minutes, he was staring at a fleshy pink Belle.

A _naked_ , fleshy pink Belle.

His own cheeks turned a similar shade and he let out a squeak. He glanced away immediately, waving a hand in her direction and clothing her in one of her usual dresses.

From the way his cheeks felt on fire, one would think he had never seen a naked woman before. Pushing the image of Belle from his head roughly – knowing it was sure to return to torture him frequently in the future – Rumplestiltskin managed to find the will to look back at her.

She was staring at him, a bit of a smile playing at the corner of her lips. Like usual, she had found the funny side of the situation, he realized. It took him a moment or two longer than he liked, but he was finally able to find his voice.

“Are you alright, Belle?” He chose to ignore the way his voice cracked as he said her name.

“I think so,” she said, her voice hoarse after not being used for so long. “I feel normal, at least.”

Rumplestiltskin walked toward her cautiously, eyeing her carefully in case there was a delayed after-effect he had been unaware of. He had been half-convinced that something would go wrong again, even though he had triple-checked every detail this time. When he saw nothing out of the ordinary, he finally let himself relax and he heard himself let a sigh of relief.

He felt the odd urge to reach out and touch her, to make sure she was really there in front of him. Despite his brain telling him that it wasn’t a good idea, he found his hand coming up to squeeze her shoulder lightly. He watched her the whole time to make sure she wouldn’t flinch away, that his touch was welcome after everything he had done.

His question was answered a moment later when Belle flung herself into his arms. She held him close and his arms went around her waist tentatively, in case she changed her mind and decided that she didn’t actually want to hug him after all.

“Thank you.”

Her voice was so soft and muffled by his shoulder that he barely heard the words. Pulling back from her a bit, he lifted her chin with one finger so that they were looking at each other.

“You’re thanking me? It’s my fault you were stuck that way in the first place.”

“I know, and believe me, I’m not going to let you forget it anytime soon.” Belle’s arms were around his shoulders and he realized suddenly that she was playing with the ends of his hair. “But I saw how hard you worked to cure me. You did everything you could to make this past week easier for me and I do appreciate that.”

She was looking at him with a new expression he hadn’t seen before. It both reeled him in and made him want to run screaming from the room as quickly as possible.

Despite how distracting the feel of her fingers in his hair was, he somehow managed to remember the other vial he had brewed.

“Not everything, actually.” Rumplestiltskin snapped his fingers and the vial appeared in his hand. He held it up to her. “If you drink this, you’ll forget the last week entirely.”

Belle looked at the vial for a long moment before he noticed her eyes slide over to the corner of the table. He followed her gaze to where the book they had been reading the night before still sat.

Though he could have imagined it, he felt her arms tighten around him.

“Thank you,” she said, meeting his gaze again, “but I don’t want to forget.”

His brows furrowed. “You don’t?” he asked incredulously. “Why wouldn’t you?”

Her bright blue eyes looked at him earnestly. She seemed to be scanning his own for something. He started back at her confused.

Belle looked away then, biting her lip. “It’s just – I would hate to lose the memory of – of all those books we read.”

For a second, Rumplestiltskin thought she was referring to the time they had spent together reading and his heart did a little flip in his chest.

But then he realized that Belle had _of course_ meant the books themselves. She was determined to read his entire library, a feat which he thought she may just be able to accomplish during her “forever” with him.

He couldn’t help it. He snorted out loud. “Of course you couldn’t,” he said, letting both his arms drop to his side. “It’s your one weakness after all.”

Belle’s eyes grew huge and she took a half-step back, her arms loosening around him. “What?”

“The books.” He gestured to the shelf. “Isn’t that what we were talking about?”

“Of course,” Belle said hurriedly, disentangling herself from him. She walked over to grab the previous night’s book off the table. “I guess I’ll just go finish reading this then.”

“Alright.”

She made it about four steps before she turned back. “You know, it wouldn’t really be fair for me to finish this without you. In fact, I could read it to _you_ as a thank you.” Her eyes drifted down to the ground. “That is if you want.”

The wise thing would be to say no, Rumplestiltskin knew. He had only read to her as a way to comfort her and distract her from the mess he had gotten them both into. There was really no reason why their little ritual should continue.

“I would like that,” he found himself saying.

They settled down together in front of the fire, and he tried not to notice how much nicer it was to curl up next to her now that she was human again.

As her beautiful accent read the words aloud, he felt the calmness that only spinning could usually provide settle over him.

It seemed there was at least _one_ consequence from this whole misunderstanding that neither of them seemed to mind.

**Author's Note:**

> Update: A lovely individual has made fan art for this story! I'm still squealing. http://beaverblitzkrieg.tumblr.com/post/135752370077/prissyhalliwell-hey-i-did-a-thing-for-you


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